The Maruyama equipment is full tilt, heavy duty, commercial equipment. If you have crews that are rough on equipment then Maruyama would be a good choice. As far as a stick hedge trimmer, Maruyama have the heaviest duty almost indestructible gearboxes out of all made. I've own and used them and they are bad azzed. However, I don't care for the design of their edgers. Nothing like the finish or control of Shindaiwa.

As I understand it, Maruyama will be making a new comeback in the US, after already signing up some new distributors. The warranties are the best in the business. In the past, the company has been bought and sold and getting parts in a timely manner could be a problem. Most likely IMHO, Maruyama probably have the best built engines out of all of the 1st & 2nd tier brands.

I am a Shindaiwa fan but a friend of mine turned me on to Kawasaki but I'd stick to the KGT & KBL trimmers and not the KTR in their lineup. Now some have said that the EPA is killing the performance of the new "B" version. I have a couple of the KBL27a's and they have a great power to weight ratio and will tackle anything that a Shindaiwa T27 or a T270 will do. The Kawasaki hand held hedge trimmers feel a lot like Echo but I don't know how the price would compare.

time to revive this old thread. i have 4 sets of windmill hedge trimmers and they are the best period. never aprob in 20 yrs of using them. never even had to order a part. the blades cut better than any other hedgers. chrome plated and razor sharp. i also use in the summer a solo backpack blower cause its so quiet -i dont need hearing protectors. too hot for them in fla. the solo has held up ok in its first season of use.